


The Resurrection Curse

by CaptainPeggyCarter21



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awkward Crush, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Steve Rogers, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Dark Past, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Explosions, F/M, False Identity, First Meetings, Fluff, GH-325, Hiding in Plain Sight, Hydra (Marvel), Implied/Referenced Torture, Kree (Marvel), Not Canon Compliant, Original Character Death(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Past Abuse, Peggy Carter & Howard Stark Friendship, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Regeneration, SHIELD, Secret Identity, Secret Past, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Super Soldier Serum (Marvel), Tags Are Hard, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tahiti (Agents of SHIELD), Temporary Character Death, The Tesseract (Marvel), Time Skips, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:09:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27583193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainPeggyCarter21/pseuds/CaptainPeggyCarter21
Summary: Thanks to an unfortunate lab accident and Howard Stark, I don't die. On the bright side, there's almost no one left alive who knows that. The cons? Well, it turns out, life is pretty meaningless without death.
Relationships: Howard Stark & Original Character(s), Peggy Carter & Howard Stark, Peggy Carter & Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers & Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Reader
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because I can't finish a story before I start another one. I hope you like it!

I groaned as I stared into my microscope, watching cells float lazily over the blue tinted background. I slammed back into my chair, breaking through the silence in the room.  
“Goddamn it.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, avoiding the deep brown eyes I knew were settled on me.  
“Jesus, Sandy, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”  
I rolled my eyes, glancing around the otherwise empty lab. “That’s not my name.”  
“Alexandra is too long.”  
“You could always go for ‘doctor,’” I quipped.  
He chuckled, wiggling his thin mustache. “Another failure? I thought you’d have figured it out by now.”  
“You haven’t solved it either, Stark.” I threw my middle finger in the air before dropping my elbows onto the desk. “This one was the most promising yet.”  
The flickering of the fluorescent lights always gave me a headache, especially when I was stuck on a problem. And I’d been stuck on this problem for months.  
“Alright.” He grabbed the back of my chair, rolling me away from the equipment. “Let me take a look.”  
I waited in silence for a moment as he fiddled with the various knobs. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”  
He muttered an affirmative answer, his tongue peeking out the corner of his smirking mouth. “I have used a microscope before.”  
“I meant,” I allowed myself to chuckle at his comment, “do you know what you’re looking at.”  
“Of course.” A long pause. “Blood.”  
I barked out a full laugh, crossing the lab to a cabinet. After retrieving a small box, I flipped through glass slides as I walked back to my work station. He protested as I nudged him away insisting he was no use.  
“This,” I held up a prepared microscope slide, pulling it out of his reach when he snatched at it, “is Steve Rogers' blood after the transfusion.”  
His eyes widened, and a low whistle slipped between his lips. “That’s a hot commodity around here.”  
“That’s why you’re not allowed to touch it.” I grinned at his scowl and set the slide up. “It’s the last one I have.”  
The bluish-purple background sharpened into a mosaic of pale purple and deep blue with scattered pin pricks of navy as I adjusted the focus. My chest clenched as I studied the stationary shapes – dead cells. With a deep breath, I rolled my shoulders back and stepped aside, allowing Stark to take over.  
“The serum’s still in his blood?” The wonder in his voice was nearly tangible.  
“Howard,” I laid a hand on his shoulder, “the serum is his blood.”  
He glanced up at me quizzically and returned his attention to the sample. “There’s so many white blood cells.”  
My lips twitched minutely. “You do know what you’re doing.”  
“We’ve shared the same lab long enough.” He turned back to me and leaned against the table. “The coloring was different too, more blue.”  
“His cells absorbed the serum. As his blood cycled through his system, it filtered into his entire body.” I swapped the slides back.   
Howard leaned over the microscope once more. His jaw worked, and he let out a hum. “White blood cell count is high. What’s the problem?”  
“That’s the problem.” I dropped into my chair and dragged my fingers through my hair.  
His eyebrows pulled together before he bent over and looked through the eyepiece again. “You lost me.”  
“The serum enhanced every cell in Steve’s body – made them bigger and stronger. These cells haven’t changed.” I pressed my fingertips into my forehead. “The serum is a foreign substance.”  
“His body is rejecting it,” Howard sighed. “Like an infection.”  
I nodded with a groan. “Continuing treatment is only a waste of time and resources.”  
Cradling my head in my hands, I felt Stark's gaze roam over me. He knew as well as I did that the test subject was eager to join the project, desperate even. The war was over. The Army was downsizing. This was his last chance at keeping his job.  
“I can tell him.”   
“No, it’s my job.” I raised my head to meet his soft gaze. “But I could use a drink tonight.”  
He raised an eyebrow, giving me a lopsided smirk. “Only a drink?”  
I slid out of my stark, white lab coat with a snicker and a wink. “We’ll see where it goes.”  
I dropped my coat into the laundry bin while Howard sauntered after me, smoothing down his mustache. My steps grew heavier as I neared the exam room. I flipped aimlessly through his chart putting off the inevitable. Pages fluttered, and shoes clicked down the hallway behind me. I noticed the creak in the door for the first time ever, and continued into the room with a deep breath.   
“How long have I got, doc?” His chuckle was almost heartening.  
Until it wasn’t. The buzz of the lights filled my bead, leaving me to stare silently. His expression slowly turned somber while I tried to unstick my tongue from the roof of my mouth. We would kill him if we let him continue.   
“Your body is rejecting the serum.”  
His eyebrows fell. “What does that mean?”  
I closed my eyes. “Unfortunately, this is where your participation must end.”  
His jaw clenched. “No, the trial isn’t even halfway over.”  
“I’m sorry, Sergeant Morris,” my hands clasped together out of habit, falling neatly at my hips, “the treatments are ineffective. We can’t continue.”  
“You promised me –”  
“We promised you a chance.” My shoulders tensed as his hands balled into fists. “We’ve done that, and I’m sorry, but that chance is over.”  
He rose slowly from the exam table, straightening out his hulking frame. The blaze in his eyes strengthened with every solid step forward. I held my hands in front of me, steadying my voice with the illusion of adding space between us.  
“I need you to calm down, Sergeant.” I backed toward the door, matching him step for step. “This anger is a side effect of the serum. You can’t let it get the best of you.”  
“Why?” He snarled out a laugh, bowing up his back. “Will it make a difference?”  
I didn’t answer, knowing it could only make things worse. My back pressed into the cool drywall. He towered over me, now standing toe to toe with me. My hand scrambled over the face of the door until it found the handle.  
With another step and a menacing growl, he crowded into my space. Before I could twist the handle, his hand was around my throat, and my toes barely scraped the floor. I pawed at his meaty hand, wedging my fingers into the creases of his fingers. My attempt to make breathing room only resulted in him tightening his grip.  
“Sergeant,” my breathless voice rasped from throat.  
Air hissed through the cracks of the door, sending my brain into overdrive. One of the techs sealed the room. It was safety protocol, but it certainly didn’t make me feel safe. I fought the weight building in my limbs to claw at his arm and kick against his chest. My vision faded quickly until I slammed into supply closet in the corner.  
The boots In front of my face were the only indication I was lying on the floor. The room spun and teetered. I couldn’t feel the chill of the tile against my skin. I couldn’t feel anything. Despite my still hazy vision, I was certain I saw a mist pouring out of the vents – a powerful sedative, the next step of our crisis intervention process. The room blurred with my fit of coughing. I still couldn’t get enough oxygen, and I was fading fast. Lazy shuffles of sound drifted through my buzzing ears. A red puddle seeped across the floor, soaking through the numbness in my skin.  
When the taste of copper crept up my throat, I knew I was going to die there.  
I woke up more surprised than anyone. My head throbbed, and my throat ached for water, but that was my only discomfort. It didn’t make sense. The door swung open, making me wince at the influx of light.  
“Sandy,” Howard chirped leaving the door open behind him.  
“What –” I raised a hand to my head and squeezed my eyes shut. “I don’t – what happened?”  
“Up and at ‘em.” He grinned. “We have work to do.”  
“What he means is,” the British accent floated into the room as our supervisor breezed through the open door, “we’re both so happy to see you’re alright.”  
A tired smile crept over my face. “Peggy, what are you doing here?”  
The dark circles under her eyes betrayed the worry she hid. “For the moment, checking on you.”  
Howard pushed around Peggy nodding a little too earnestly. “How do you feel?”  
“My head hurts,” I said leaning into my pillows.  
“Headache?” Howard’s head whipped around to Peggy. “Did Steve get headaches?”  
“Only when you were around,” she snipped.  
My eyebrows pulled together, sending a dull ache across my brow. “What does Steve have to do wi-” I clenched my jaw. “Stark, what happened?”  
His eyes fell to the floor. “He tried to kill you.”  
“Howard.”  
“We didn’t have a choice.”  
“I did not sign onto this project to be your lab rat.” My blood boiled, flushing through my face. “You had no right t-”  
“But I did.” Peggy step forward, her face stone. “I authorized the transfusion. You were dying.”  
My face tightened as I took in her statement. She didn’t like the project to begin with. She’d tried to put an end to the whole thing since Rogers went in the ice. She reminded us daily that Captain Rogers was dead, and we should let his secrets lie. It tore her apart watching us try to recreate him, but she would never let any of the other agents touch the project. It didn’t help that Howard kept planning expeditions to recover the wreckage. She didn’t make the call lightly.  
I nodded slowly, trying not to trigger an explosion in my head. I still wasn’t happy about it.  
“Do you feel stronger?” Howard moved around my bed, examining me from a distance at all angles. “Taller?”  
I shrugged and shook my head. “I feel mostly normal.” A pen struck between my eyes, dropping into my lap. “What the hell?”  
Howard sunk into his shoulders. “I thought you’d catch that.”  
Peggy cut a glare at him and stepped up to the side of my bed. “When you’re feeling up to it, we would like to try some tests.”  
“The serum did its job.” Howard poked his head around Peggy. “Now we need to see if it worked.”  
I was kept overnight, despite my insistence that I felt fine. The next day met me with a series of grueling tasks, none of which I came close to completing. My bloodwork showed the serum intact, but none of the enhanced abilities manifested. It couldn’t even heal the paper cut I got while signing my discharge. With another failure in the books, we returned our attention to the official trials.  
All our subjects were equally disappointing. Even the few who made it through the full three month program saw no enhancements after the infusions stopped. The serum metabolized and that was that.   
With no real results to show, the top brass eventually gave in to Peggy’s pleading. Or, more likely the men in charge found us to be a waste of resources. Whatever the reason, our research was diverted to more practical endeavors. More explosive.  
I took an offer from Stark Industries when my SSR contract ended. The serum became a hobby Howard and I dabbled with from time to time, but he was more concerned with breaking into the energy industry using the cube he found on one of his search expeditions. My experience laid far outside this sector of work, but he had visions of grandeur and no one else who could keep up.  
We both consulted with the SSR until SHIELD came about, and I took on a position in R&D. Stark Industries won a contract providing SHIELD with field tech. Despite Peggy being busy in her new role, it was nice having the team back together.  
“You ever miss Project Rebirth?” Howard glanced up from his calculations. “The challenge was more entertaining.”  
“Maybe,” I shrugged, “but we didn’t have nearly as many explosions.”  
His smirk spread slowly. “Tony would be jealous if he knew that.”  
In the time we’d been apart, Howard’s toddler had sprouted into a full-grown genius, and destruction ran in his blood. It wasn’t the Stark men's fault. They were cursed with brilliance and needed an outlet for it. Unfortunately, the world always found a way to turn the most promising inventions into weapons.  
“You ready to take another look at the tessaract?” I quirked up an eyebrow.  
Neither of us knew where the name had come from. It just showed up in conversation one day and stuck.  
His eyes brightened. “I thought you’d never ask.”  
We hadn’t worked hands on with the cube in weeks. It was the most fascinating item in the division, but produced few actionable results. As much as we loved studying it, SHIELD had no use for the thing.  
“I want to take another reading.” His briefcase clicked shut behind me.  
“We’re breaking the shell.” I shrugged my lab coat onto my shoulders and snatched my safety goggles from my desk. “I want to get a sample of the damn thing.”  
Holding the door open for me, Howard made a disapproving grunt. “What if the container is the only thing – well, containing it?”  
My eyebrow quirked up. “Are you scared?”  
“Not at all,” he chuckled. “I just want to know the contingency plan.”  
“If this goes wrong, I don’t think we’ll be in a condition to need one.”  
“You may have a point.”  
The lab was only a single floor below our office. The elevator was full, so we took the stairs which lengthened our trip by an extra moment. I braced for the chill as we neared the end of the final hallway. The lab was always colder than the rest of the building. It was an impersonal space – sterile and indifferent. The cube was kept in the farthest corner behind reinforced walls. We had no clue what it was capable of. In a building full of the most sophisticated spy gear in the world, a glow-in-the-dark cube was the most dangerous.  
We continued straight into the observation deck of the isolation room and checked the monitors. The readings were normal, for this thing, at least. Energy levels were off the chart for anything else. We both let out a sigh. Nothing had changed in three weeks.  
“Everything checks out.” I took a small chisel from my coat pocket and wiggled it between my fingers. “Let the real work begin.”  
Howard took a seat and snapped his goggles into place, giving me a thumbs up. I scurried around the wall of ballistic glass and circled the cube. We hadn’t found a weak point in the entire time we’d had it, but there had to be something. And if there wasn’t one, I’d make one.  
Howard watched me through the window and nodded. I stepped up to the pedestal, and Howard’s voice crackled over the speakers, making be jump back.  
“There was a spike in energy level.”  
I walked up to it again, raising my hand, and Howard’s voice burst in again.  
“There it went again.” He glanced between me and the monitors. “It’s like it knows you’re there.”  
My heart raced at the prospect. Could this object be a living organism? I ran a finger over the smooth side of the cube. It buzzed against my touch, sending chills up my arm. The walls seemed fragile enough.  
The chisel shook in my hand as I raised it and chipped at the corner. A burst of energy radiated from the cube, flinging me backward. The concrete walls shook in place, and shards of glass sprayed over the room. My shoulder slammed into something solid. Pain cracked over the side of my skull, and the world went dark.  
As the ringing in my ears subsided, Peggy’s muddled voice crept into my head. I had a concussion. At least. I couldn’t make out the words, but my eyes fluttered open. Howard was there too. A dull buzz at the back of my head drew out a groan as I lifted my hand to rub the spot.  
Howard yelped, a shot cracked, and the world went black again.  
“What the fuck?” This time I woke with a searing pain behind my left eye. “You shot me.”  
Peggy’s jaw worked as she studied me. Howard stared, speechless for the first time in his life. My fingers explored the raised grooves around my orbital socket – scar tissue.  
“What the fuck?” I breathed. “What’s happening?”  
“You,” Peggy began unsteadily, “were dead.”  
Howard’s mouth hung open. “Twice, now.”  
I swallowed, wetting my dry throat. “She shot me in the eye?”  
“You remember?” The awe in Howard’s face gave way to curiosity.   
I nodded slowly. “Both times.”  
“Fascinating.”  
None of us moved for another long moment. No one dared put a voice to what you were all thinking. I died.  
“Impeccable aim, Peg,” Howard finally chuckled.  
Peggy smirked. “Did you doubt me?”  
I rubbed my temples again. “Bitch.”  
I took a shaky breath and ran a hand through my hair. I came back from the dead. I _come_ back from the dead. It happened twice in a row, but this was the third time total. Our serum worked. It was still in my blood after decades. But it was different. Something had suppressed it. Who knew how long it would last?


	2. Chapter 2

Quite a while, it turns out.  
When the news broke that SHIELD found the wreckage of the _Valkyrie_ , I could have cried. When they announced Rogers survived, I did. It seemed impossible, and I knew a thing or two about that. No one else had any clue what the find _really_ meant. The only person left who helped look for him had no idea where she was. She didn’t know me, so I didn’t hang around to watch her die.  
I didn’t intend to find him either. I guess I didn’t find him at all, really. Unless you call having fresh brewed coffee dumped in your lap “finding.”  
I shove my chair back and swipe my hands down the front of my skirt watching caramel colored droplets splatter on the tile. The cuffs of my sleeves catch between my jangling bracelets as I dab at the new stains.  
“I’m so sorry.” He turns his beet red face toward the floor. “I didn’t- I don’t know –”  
His muttered apologies only annoy me further, the sincerity grating on my last nerve. The stories about his character are spot on. The way Peggy and Howard always carried on made me sick. I thought they exaggerated; he was dead, after all. That’s what you do.  
But standing in front of me is two hundred pounds of embarrassed modesty.  
I let out a sigh and raise a damp palm to my head. “It’s fine. Just –“ I swat his outstretched hand away from my waist. “Let me handle it.”  
Somehow, his face flushes deeper. “I’m sorry.” He holds out my phone which he rescued from a puddle on the table. “Will this still work?”  
Wiping the streaks of coffee from the screen, I chuckle. “It ought to make it.” The sight of my tablet bathing in the hot mess where I dropped it on the floor makes my face drop. “That might not though.”  
His gaze follows mine, and his palms cover his face, muffling another apology. “I’ll get you another one.”   
I should kindly reject the offer and leave it at that. “Only if you let me buy you another coffee.” Damn it.  
My heart stutters at his lopsided grin. His every pore bleeds innocence and purity. If I didn’t know Peggy, I might believe it. But with all her espionage training, she liked to talk after a few drinks. Maybe she just missed him or maybe that’s how she kept from leaking intelligence, either way I knew far more about the man I just met than I should.  
The awkward silence between us stretches through the entirety of our wait for his fresh drink. As we take our seats at the same table, I shake my head at myself. This is possibly the most confused I’ve ever been. I’m on a coffee date with my senile colleague’s dead boyfriend. And I like him.  
If Peggy were here, she’d tear my throat out. But she’s not. No one is. Everyone I used to know is gone. And he’s experiencing it for the first time. He deserves a cup of coffee.  
“How are you doing?” The question comes out before I can stop it.  
His bubbling laughter puts me back at ease. “Still as smooth as ever, I guess.”  
“So I’ve heard.” I raise my cup to my lips, smirking at his puzzled eyebrows. “At the museum.” I’ve got to be more careful.   
“Right,” he snorts and a puff of steam floats out of his cup, “because I’m old.”  
“Yes, but also because I learned about you in the museum.”  
“No,” his cheeks flare up again, casting him in an adorable pink glow. “I don’t have a museum do I?”  
“No, no, no.” I take a breath between laughs. “Just an exhibit in the museum.”  
He drags a hand down his face. “Oh, if that’s all.”  
“Well, it’s not like you came back from the dead or anything.”  
His face returns to a normal shade as he chuckles. “I guess that’s what you have to do to get a museum around here.”  
He has no idea. I give a good-natured smirk and slide my cracked tablet into my backpack. “I have an appointment to get to.” I hurry away without a goodbye. I’m already in deeper than I should be.  
A hand at my elbow stops me just outside the door. “I didn’t get your name.”  
Damn him and his wholesome appeal. “Nadia.”  
“Steve.”   
“Yeah,” I snort, “I know.”  
He shrugs into his shoulders. “Right.”  
I leave before he can charm me into anything else. The last half hour has been a disaster. The last thing I need is to get tangled up in the ghost of a life I outlived. It’s the only way to survive without being turned into the frog in biology.  
When Colorado Spring began complimenting my aging, I had to get out. Juliana became Nadia. I left my ranch house for a one bedroom apartment and traded life in a hospital for work in a lecture hall. It was for the best. I won’t be found out again. I can’t do it.   
I’ve barely been in New York for a month, and I’m unraveling my identity. But it’s fine now. We’ve parted ways, and I can carry on with my life without intervention from Steve Rogers. He can work his wide-eyed schoolboy act on someone else.  
My new research project would have to wait. Yesterday, the president of the university walked into my office with Tony Stark on his heels. I’d been requested personally to work on a project with Stark Industries in return for a hefty research grant for the medical school.  
The building at the address Stark gave me is state of the art. I walk through the door to a laboratory gaping at the technology scattered neatly around the room. Floor to ceiling windows fill the room with natural light. The worktables gleam edge to edge. Large screens dot the walls while holograms shimmer in the center. The very room oozes innovation. The crisp air tugs at the edges of my brain, and a faint blue glow emanates from an observation deck at the far end of the room.  
My breath catches as a realization hits me like a truck. This is SHIELD. My heart pounds in my ears through the entire briefing. This is my second worst nightmare. I can’t be here. The world teeters around me, swirling voices around my head.  
I bump into a familiar blond on my way out. “Of fucking course.”  
He stops short, smile falling. “I’m sorry. I thought –”  
“Yeah, I know.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, forcing my shoulders to relax. “It’s just not a great day for me.”  
“I should’ve seen that coming.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I’m sure I didn’t – hey, are you alright?”  
My lungs spasm, and my skin prickles. I nod, swallowing thickly. “I just need to get out of here.”  
He steps aside and ushers me past in a hurry. I feel him following more than anything else. Blood rushes through my head, roaring between my ears. My vision fades white around the edges, and the room closes in as I near the exit.  
My toes barely hit the edge of the pavement when I double over supporting myself with a hand on the rough wall. Coffee stings my throat with another heave. Tears well up in my eyes while I cough up the last of whatever it was I had for breakfast.  
Deft fingers gather my hair between my shoulder blades making me jump. I tighten my jaw to stop the trembling. I’m here on invitation. They know, goddamn it. The archer must have talked.  
I wipe my mouth and dab at the sweat beads on my temples, straightening up slowly. Steve’s hands land firmly around each of my arms, his superhuman warmth seeping through my blouse. I turn around steadily, and he holds me at arms length.  
“You look like you have a fever.” He raises a hand and slowly lowers it to his side stepping back. “Sorry.”  
I toss an arm out at my side, swallowing the acrid taste in my mouth. “It’s the – this alien shit. I –” My hand draws through my hair instinctively. Fucking _SHIELD_.  
“It can be a lot to take in.” He chuckles, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Even when you’ve experienced the impossible firsthand.”  
My eyes narrow minutely. He acts like he has no idea about what came after him. The search for his replacement. The experiments. Me.  
“I’ll be fine after some rest.” Hopefully.   
“I’m sorry.” A shallow crease forms between his eyebrows. “I just – what did you think you’d get working with SHIELD?”  
“I didn’t know.” My voice falls flat. “I – trust me. I never would have agreed.”  
“How –“ His lips purse perfectly, stirring a flutter in my belly. “What did you think you were doing?”  
I want to know how they feel. “I took a research job. Details weren’t forthcoming.” Maybe I can trust him.   
A silent curse falls from my mouth. That’s exactly what they’d want me to think.   
My feet move along the sidewalk, my brain running rampant. I can count on one hand the ways this situation could get any worse. I’ve been avoiding SHIELD since I left. The one organization capable of exploiting my ability. Exploiting me. And goddamn Steve Rogers is their mother fucking mole.  
“Are you okay to drive?”  
I blink hard. “Bus.” Is that genuine concern?  
“Good.” He hesitates, leaning his weight into his heels. “I should get back in – Be careful. I’d like to see you looking good tomo- safe, I mean. And healthy. And –”  
I give him a curt wave and smile.  
“Yeah, thanks.” He waves back and turns away.  
I spend the short walk to the bus stop clearing my head. I was so careful all those years. I never stayed in one place too long. I kept my distance. And I didn’t die. There was no indication. They shouldn’t know.  
I lean my head against the window, unsure when I had boarded the bus. It has to be a coincidence. I was selected because of my promising research. I have the best reputation because I have the most experience. Cause and effect. They can’t know. It’s not possible.  
I don’t eat dinner. It won’t stay down anyway. Instead, I sink into a steaming bath with my favorite romance novel perched on the side. I just need to relax, get it all out of my head. I slide down the tub, losing myself in the comfort of weightlessness. Warmth washes over me as the world fades away. Water fills my ears, silencing what’s left of my anxiety. I break the surface with a quiet gasp, pushing my hair out of my face. After drying my hands, I picked up my book and settled in.   
I would be fine.   
My sense of security vanishes the second I start working. The first thing I see when I walk in is the corpse of a large blue humanoid stretched out on a worktable. Aside from the size and skin color, this thing could pass as human. Their race, Kree, are masters of genetics and light years ahead of us in medical technology. According to SHIELD anyway.  
“I’m sorry.” I furrow my brow before raising my eyebrows. “What exactly is the end goal here?”  
The most senior agent uncrosses his arms and leans over the table. He introduced himself as Agent Baker during the briefing. Other agents busy themselves studying the subject. Even the lab techs are agents. Full agents, field certified and all. No wonder they needed an extra brain, one that was research focused.  
“We managed to distill a rudimentary regenerative serum from Kree blood.” He surveys what’s left of the body. “We need to perfect it without draining the source.”  
“What are the current limitations?”  
His chest heaves out a huff. “This was all covered in your brief.”  
My lips curl back briefly before I smile softly. “Sorry. A lot to take in.”  
“Fair enough.” He gives a cold smirk. “It can heal most anything, including recent death.”  
My heart stops, and I let out a shaky laugh. “What improvements are you hoping to make on bringing back the dead?”  
“The side effects of the current formula are –” He works his jaw slowly. “Less than acceptable.”   
A junior agent looks up from drawing a sample of a thick, teal fluid. “Kree genetic material isn’t compatible with ours – induces psychosis.”  
“Right.” Baker snaps. “We’d like a version that doesn’t require memory adjustment.”  
I choke back a cough. “Doesn’t require what, now?”  
Fucking SHIELD. Some things never change. The ends will always justify the means.  
He doesn’t bat an eye. “Our hope is someone more experienced in molecular biology can find the solution.”  
“You want a regeneration serum with no negative mental effects?”  
This earns a chuckle from the rest of the room.  
“Essentially.” Baker straightens and moves out of the way of the younger scientists. “We need a synthetic replacement.”  
They truly hadn’t changed in the slightest. My jaw clenches as I meet each of their eyes. “Alright.”  
I need to find the archer and figure out what the hell happened. Until then, I’ll play along. No sense in raising suspicions if this truly is a coincidence. Besides, the worst they can do is kill me.  
The young technicians show me the samples they’ve already collected, and I slip into a lab coat. “I want to look at bone marrow and spinal fluid.”  
Having access to alien biological samples is the second coolest thing ever to happen to me. I may as well learn what I can from this thing after all. I’ll never have another opportunity to study an alien specimen. It could have the answers to any number of questions concerning human cellular function. I won’t help them make a super-soldier serum, but maybe this thing could give me a new perspective. It’s close enough to human visually, if that holds true through its cellular makeup, it could be the breakthrough of the millennia.   
I can bide my time studying the Kree while I find the archer. As long as they don’t put me on a slab next to him.  
One day slowly turned to two, then three and four. I examine slides and take my own samples. Kree cells are remarkably close to human's and, at the same time, critically different. In a week, I’ve determined their quest is futile. With the Kree's natural regeneration rate, I’m able to revive a few samples and observe the cellular operation. It’s a magnificent sight, but it will never be compatible with the human body.   
The next time I see Steve, his team trails into the cafeteria behind him. The dark uniform overshadows his jovial expression, commanding the attention of the whole room. His broad shoulders ripple under the thin fabric as he strides in. His team, clad in all black, plod heavily behind him. Despite being beat to hell, every one of them look ready for a fight.  
“Excuse me.” I make my approach cautiously. “Captain?”  
“Nadia?” His head whips around, turning his body with it. “I didn’t expect to see you back.”  
I smile sheepishly. “The money's good.”  
“As good a reason as any.” His perfect teeth peek between his lips. “I’m glad.”  
My eyes narrow as I glance over the threatening crew. “These aren’t the Avengers.”  
“No,” he chuckles, “this is the STRIKE team. They’re a little less conspicuous.”  
“Too bad.” I let out a dejected sigh. “I’d really like to meet them.”  
A gruff looking man, the team leader, motions to the others and grimaces. “Cap’s game is bad enough without us hanging around.”  
Steve’s face flushes as the men retreat, bringing their snickers with them. “Don’t mind them.”  
“It’s cute.” I nudge him playfully. “They think you _have_ game.”  
“I –” He pauses, forming words without saying them aloud. “Am figuring it out.”  
My cackle erupts across the dining room. “Not very well.”  
Steve clears his throat, dragging a hand over the back of his head. “I’ll see if I can get the others out here one day.”  
My heart falls as he walks away, shoulders slack. I shake the guilt off and return to the sushi line. He’s one of them. I can’t let my guard down until I know where they stand. He’ll bring the archer to me, and I’ll have answers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still working out the details of the plot. After I posted chapter 1, I realized I had no idea where I was heading.   
> Suggestions appreciated!


End file.
